We should be grateful that someone is taking the time and spending the money to produce a direct to disk record but more grateful that the music lives up to the sonic promise - Sound 10/10 Music 10/10 Michael Fremer Analogueplanet

The great day dawned and with much trepidation we all turned up at Air studios at 9 AM. Remember, with a direct cut process, everything has to be recorded live in one take. There is no editing or mixing down or sweetening. You have only one day to rehearse, mix and cut both sides of the album.

No digital toys were used at all and the stereo signal from the desk was passed up two floors to John Webber, Air’s long-standing cutting engineer, who again used a Neumann VMS 80 lathe. Rupert Coulson created a fantastic mix and again I was looking for a “you are there” balance. Have we achieved it? Well, I loved the shuffling sound of the band turning the pages of the score and if you listen carefully, you can almost hear Chris the leader, counting everyone in.

The choice of microphone itself was obvious, for if you look at photographs of many of the old sessions recorded in the era, you will see a big fat sexy valve powered microphone, the ubiquitous Neumann U47. I have used this beautiful old mic on many sessions and even though its design is over fifty years old, I have really found nothing to touch its quality in the modern world. Our mixing desk was built by Neve over thirty years ago, which obviously also adds to the great warm sound. We opened Clare’s voice up a little by adding an EMT plate rather than a digital box of tricks

Side A:
1. I've Got You Under My Skin
2. Begin the Beguine
3. I Get A Kick Out of You
4. Ding Dong the Witch is Dead